Poetry

There are two types of Old English poetry: the heroic, the sources of which are pre-Christian Germanic myth, history, and custom; and the Christian. Although nearly all Old English poetry is preser ed in only four manuscripts!indicating that what has sur i ed is not necessarily the "est or most representati e!much of it is of high literary #uality. $oreo er, Old English heroic poetry is the earliest e%tant in all of Germanic literature. &t is thus the nearest we can come to the oral pagan literature of Germanic culture, and is also of inestima"le alue as a source of 'nowledge a"out many aspects of Germanic society. The (th-century wor' 'nown as )idsith is one of the earliest Old English poems, and thus is of particular historic and linguistic interest. *eowulf, a complete epic, is the oldest sur i ing Germanic epic as well as the longest and most important poem in Old English. &t originated as a pagan saga transmitted orally from one generation to the ne%t; court poets 'nown as scops were the "earers of tri"al history and tradition. The ersion of Beowulf that is e%tant was composed "y a Christian poet, pro"a"ly early in the +th cent. ,owe er, intermittent Christian themes found in the epic, although affecting in themsel es, are not integrated into the essentially pagan tale. The epic cele"rates the hero-s fearless and "loody struggles against monsters and e%tols courage, honor, and loyalty as the chief irtues in a world of "rutal force. The elegiac theme, a strong undercurrent in Beowulf, is central to Deor, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and other poems. &n these wor's, a happy past is contrasted with a precarious and desolate present. The Finnsburgh fragment, The Battle of Maldon, and The Battle of Brunanburh .see $aldon and*runan"urh/, which are all "ased on historical episodes, mainly cele"rate great heroism in the face of o erwhelming odds. &n this heroic poetry, all of which is anonymous, greatness is measured less "y ictory than "y perfect loyalty and courage in e%tremity. $uch of the Old English Christian poetry is mar'ed "y the simple "elief of a relati ely unsophisticated Christianity; the names of two authors are 'nown.C0dmon!whose story is charmingly told "y the 1enera"le *ede, who also records a few lines of his poetry!is the earliest 'nown English poet. Although the "ody of his wor' has "een lost, the school of C0dmon is responsi"le for poetic narrati e ersions of "i"lical stories, the most dramatic of which is pro"a"ly Genesis B. Cynewulf, a later poet, signed the poems Elene, Juliana, and The Fates of the Apostles; no more is 'nown of him. The finest poem of the school of Cynewulf is The Drea of the !ood, the first 'nown e%ample of the dream ision, a genre later popular in $iddle English literature. Other Old English poems include arious riddles, charms .magic cures, pagan in origin/, saints- li es, gnomic poetry, and other Christian and heroic erse. The erse form for Old English poetry is an alliterati e line of four stressed sylla"les and an unfi%ed num"er of unstressed sylla"les "ro'en "y a caesura and arranged in one of se eral patterns. 2ines are con entionally end-stopped and unrhymed. The form lends itself to narrati e; there is no lyric poetry in Old English. A stylistic feature in this heroic poetry is the 'enning, a figurati e phrase, often a metaphorical compound, used as a synonym for a simple noun, e.g., the repeated use of the phrases whale" road for sea and twilight"spoiler for dragon .see Old 3orse literature/.

Prose
Old English literary prose dates from the latter part of the Anglo-4a%on period. 5rose was written in 2atin "efore the reign of 6ing Alfred .reigned +(7899/, who wor'ed to re itali:e English culture after the de astating ;anish in asions ended. As hardly anyone could read 2atin, Alfred translated or had translated the most important 2atin te%ts. ,e also encouraged writing in the ernacular. ;idactic, de otional, and informati e prose was written, and the Anglo"Sa#on $hroni%le, pro"a"ly "egun in Alfred-s time as an historical record, continued for o er three centuries. Two preeminent Old English prose writers were <lfric, A""ot of Eynsham, and his contemporary )ulfstan, Arch"ishop of =or'. Their sermons .written in the late 7>th or early 77th cent./ set a standard for homiletics.

A great deal of Latin prose and poetry was written during the Anglo-Saxon period. Of historic as well as literary interest, it provides an excellent record of the founding and early development of the church in England and reflects the introduction and early influence there of Latin-European culture